Puget Sound Estuarium

Fantastic experience: Very fun 90 minutes! We could have stayed longer. The staff was knowledgeable and engaging. They took time to show us features of the live exhibits and demonstrated how sea urchins eat for us!

Fantastic experience: Such a sweet place! My friends and I went as part of our weekly get-togethers. Peyton was a wonderful host! They showed us the tanks, feed the urchins for us, and generally helped us work through our understanding of the wildlife. I also really appreciated them calling on other volunteers and staff when we had very in-depth and tangential questions. We even got some merch at the end of the tour! A great way to feel like you've supported your local people while having fun :^) Thank you!!

Positive experience: Knowledgeable volunteers. But the place is really small.

Fantastic experience: Amazing place of wonder and beauty. Staff are a wealth of information and are friendly.

Fantastic experience: The location is great! My son really enjoyed the stay. The location is small and my son enjoyed the show in the back room.

Fantastic experience: This place is an amazing mix of fun and education. We adore our local Estuarium, and the Walk the Plank collab with the Wildman Gastropub was phenomenal. By far one of the most fun drag events I've ever been a part of! Getting to mermaid for your crew is a dream come true!

Fantastic experience: Came to the Estuarium after seeing the flyer for the drag show a couple weeks ago, and loved the newts! I haven't been in awhile and love the new black tanks. I went to the Wild Man show with the Burley Barnacles! I loved that they had a live band and let us sing two songs with them! They have some great/popular performers at the show who turned up! And the hosts were funny!

Fantastic experience: Love how inclusive they are! The staff and volunteers are passionate and active in the community! Went to two of the Estuarium's events, the All Ages Sea Drag show at Stonewall Youth and the Walk the Plank Drag show at Wildman!!!! Very fun atmosphere. Good to see the Estuarium hosting these kind of events!!!!!

Fantastic experience: I went to the Walk the Plank event and absolutely loved the Burly, Barnacles, and the Merfolks. It was awesome. Such a great experience.

Fantastic experience: Small but very educational. Staff was very helpful

Fantastic experience: Had a beautiful trip with my son on his birthday. He loves anemones, newts, sea slugs, and the little feet on starfish. All of these were here in these aquariums along with some guides who were great about answering questions and showing different aspects of the animals to us. They also have a fantastic shell collection. The local bird exhibit in the back room was also very interesting. Definitely worth the time we spend here (about an hour).

Positive experience: Very tiny but with a short stop. It was a free day so we appreciated that.

Fantastic experience: A fun and educational place equally entertaining to 2 year olds to 70+ year olds. It seems small but contains a lot inside with knowledgable volunteers on site to give personal tours and tell us about the resident animals personalities. There's a few aquariums where you can get an up close look at some common PNW species and a back room full of hands on activities for kids, jarred specimens and drawers of shells you can inspect with magnifying glasses. Many other pictures, posters and books available to learn even more. The touch tank was away at the fair when we stopped in, probably another fun exhibit for all.

Positive experience: Would be such a wonderful place for learning if it was organized and clean. The story time was alright except the person who read wasn't really familiar with children or their needs. So the kids were pretty distracted right away. The place needs a revamp and some tlc. Has potential but needs order and management.

Fantastic experience: The staff are passionate about their work. They are welcoming and informative. I recommend stopping by if you interested in learning more about estuaries and their wild life in PNW.

Fantastic experience: We loved it. It's small, but mighty! My son loved the microscopes and I enjoyed visiting with their staff/volunteers.

Positive experience: Lots of things to check out and do in a very small setting. My only issue was that the volunteers were following us closely and not giving my family much space to explore on our own.

Fantastic experience: Wonderful place to learn about the biodiversity in the local estuary. Adorable animals, especially Rocky the rockfish!

Fantastic experience: Surprisingly, the stars of the Estuarium are the newts and not the starfish. I enjoyed myself and will definitely go back!

Fantastic experience: Very cool. Spent 30 minutes here with the kids.

Fantastic experience: Great place to gain perspective on Puget Sound and what's going on in the ocean environment. Staff was very knowledgeable and friendly!

Fantastic experience: Small aquarium with live exhibits and specimens, perfect for kids. Very educational. The staff was so patient and friendly.

Positive experience: Super informative about the aqua life in the Puget sound! Also the lady who was working the day we visited was very friendly and helpful! Warning though, it is a small exhibit so I would keep that in mind when making plans, etc!

Fantastic experience: Lovely little place - the kids had a wonderful time looking at the tanks and exhibits. The young woman working there was very knowledgeable and informative and my daughter had a great time asking questions. Will go again!

Positive experience: Small scale but awesome staff and some pretty cool exhibits.

Fantastic experience: This place is super cute and a joy to walk around! I love going here. It's small, but really soothing. Very Olympia.

Fantastic experience: Nice place great for the kid's to visit and learn about our sea and marine life we have in our beautiful city.

Fantastic experience: Staff was super friendly and the content is really educational! Small but cheap and several stations for kids to be entertained.

Fantastic experience: Small facility but volunteers are highly educated about what there is. Their events are really where they shine, with Pier Peers out on Boston harbor, and meet the beach events letting kids get hands on with wildlife and learning.

Positive experience: Very small. Not much to see. The staff was nice and informative. The presentation was dull. Lost kids attention ...

Fantastic experience: Lots of fun for the whole family

Fantastic experience: Great place owner is very knowledgeable, affordable to get in and you will learn a lot

Fantastic experience: Interesting place, providing a look into what is living in the neighborhood.

Fantastic experience: An awesome organization worthy of support. The exhibits are small but worth a look if you're in the area.

Positive experience: The staff is wonderful. It's a very small setting with some great information, and they really do great things for our ocean and beaches. But the drug addicts and vagrants that surrounded the Olympia downtown business is horrible. Doesn't feel like a safe at all.

Positive experience: Okay space with knowledgeable staff and some activities for kids. Don't plan on spending a lot of time here. 2 rooms and minimal aquarium space.

Fantastic experience: Very small, and not really an aquarium, but educational. The staff was very knowledgeable and was even able to identify a fish i had seen while scuba diving based on my very vague description.

Fantastic experience: Not only a great education for children but also adults for the multitude of estuaries that surround Puget Sound.

Fantastic experience: Fall thru on a weekend between 11am and 4ish pm for some awesome hands on exhibits, live marine life and informative chats with interpreters. A must see if you're in the OLY/TAC area

Fantastic experience: Small discovery center with several tanks. The staff member that took us through was so knowledgeable and made everything fun and informative! We had fun! Thank you!

Fantastic experience: Saltwater tanks and Estuary education! A wonderful place for children and scientist of all ages too. Look for the Discovery Speaker Talks during the fall/winter for additional Puget Sound Science Education at LOTT.

Fantastic experience: Great place for learning. Employees/volunteers really care about their work.

Positive experience: Great educational event for the whole family.

Fantastic experience: South Sound Estuary Association is a wonderful organization, and their estuarium is really cool. I love all the critters and the mural.

Fantastic experience: my kids loves it here .... easily accesable

Fantastic experience: Fun weekend outing for the family

Fantastic experience: What a special place! I've been to aquariums before, but the Estuarium teaches about all the unique things that happen where fresh water meets the sea. It's a small, community run science and education center. They have two two hundred gallon saltwater tanks with colorful sea anemones, sea stars, the feistiest crabs I've ever met, and a family of pipe fish--the local relatives of sea horses who spend their lives swimming vertically. There are lots of other activities and displays for all ages, from coloring sheets to a squid in a jar, to microscopes where you can watch live plankton. The Estuarium is headquarters for the SSEA's many education programs that happen out at Boston Harbor (Pier Peer) and at local beaches throughout the summer. If you're in Olympia on the weekend, the Estuarium is worth a visit.